Product Review: Prismacolor Premier Illustration Markers

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. Today I wanted to tell you about a product that I recently got to try out. As most of you all know, long before I ever owned a Copic marker I was (and still am) a huge fan of Prismacolor markers. My Prismacolor colored pencils and markers are a permanent staple on my craft table. A few months ago, I was asked if I would like to try out some new Prismacolor Premier Illustration markers. You know me, I'm always game for trying out something new! I have been using them for the past few months but with vacation and Christmas and illness, I haven't had a chance to post about them here. Today I wanted to share a little bit about these markers with you.

I had a chance to play around with the fine tip, brush tip and chisel tip versions of these markers. Here are some details about each style of marker:

• The Premier Fine Tip Illustration marker is ideal for creating crisp lines and detail work, such as quick sketching, outlining and adding texture. Five point sizes (005, 01, 03, 05, 08) allow for versatility and translate to precise, controlled application when detailing or making fine marks.

• The Premier Brush Tip Illustration marker gives artists the control, flexibility and signature detail of a paint brush with the unique qualities of Prismacolor’s vibrant ink to create thick, thin or varied lines in one stroke.

• The Premier Chisel Tip Illustration marker features a tip style that allows for varying line and stroke widths – from smooth lettering to easy outlining to the ability to cover large areas with broad strokes.

The retail price for these ranges from $3 for a single marker to around $20 for a package of 8. You can find these at Michael's (use their weekly coupon and these are a total steal!!), Hobby Lobby, A.C. Moore, Dick Blick and lots of other fine retailers. For a complete list of retailers, click HERE.

The first thing you will notice about these markers is that they are the size of a regular pen or pencil. They are not the big thick marker like the regular Prismacolor Premier markers. This makes them really easy to use.

Here are my opinions/observations of each of the 3 styles of marker:

The Chisel Tip: The chisel tip markers are really nice quality but for the work I do, I really didn't have a huge use for them.

The Brush Tip: I really liked the brush tip markers. These aren't markers to use for blending and coloring large areas but they are absolutely AWESOME to color in small detailed areas. Because the brush tip is a bit firmer and much smaller than a Copic brush tip, the color is much easier to control in tiny detailed areas. The number of colors is very limited but these are definitely worth picking up!

The Fine Tip: These are an absolute MUST HAVE! I LOVE these markers. They sit on my stamp table where I have access to them at all times. I have used these over and over again!
The fine tip black set comes with 7 markers...5 different size fine tips along with a brush tip and a chisel tip. The fine tip markers are truly invaluable. I mainly used the fine tip markers to fix stamping imperfections or add background scenery to my image.

Here are some of the ways I used them:

With this adorable Cooper image from Paper Pretties, I wanted to use a layout that had a circular main image panel. This image is more of a rectangular image and when cut out in a circle looked strange because the falling snow was just falling down the center of the circle and not along the sides.

Not a problem...I used one of the fine tip Prismacolor Illustration markers and added the extra snow flakes to fill the circle. You honestly can't tell that the drawn snow isn't part of the original image. I use Momento Black ink and the markers are an exact match.For my next example I had a sentiment that didn't fully stamp. The letter A in "Always" misstamped.
Once again I just grabbed one of the fine tip markers and viola...you would have never known.


I have used these fine tip markers to fix several images. Because I mainly only use premium quality white cardstock nowadays, I hate to throw even a 1/4 sheet away because of a misstamped image. For this next image you can see that the right edge of the umbrella and her right arm didn't stamp fully.
Once again, the fine tip markers did the trick! I can't tell you how much I LOVE these! The great thing is, is once the image is fixed you can go ahead and color with your regular Prismacolor markers or Copics and the black ink where you fixed the image will not smear.

Here is the fixed/colored image.

Here is another example where I fixed an image that didn't stamp correctly. Look at her shoe.

Here I colored the small flowers using one of the brush tip markers. Fine detail and small areas are ideal for these markers.
For my next example, I used the fine tip markers to extend the ground line to the edges of my die cut piece of paper. These super fine tip markers make it easy to add your own ground or grass and make it look like it was part of the original image.
I haven't had a chance to scrapbook in quite some time but these would also be perfect for journaling on your photos and scrapbook pages!

Overall, I highly recommend these. The fine tip set is a must have for any papercrafter, the brush tip are perfect for coloring small detailed areas and the chisel tip are high quality markers for those of you who use a chisel tip.
These markers were designed for Illustrators but they are also a perfect fit for any stamper or scrapper.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you are all having a terrific weekend! Be sure to check back tomorrow for the Little Paper Shop Monday Challenge!